


The Three Hybrids One-Shots

by kainess



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop, SHINee
Genre: AU, BaekYeol - Freeform, Brotp, Cat/Human Hybrids, EXO - Freeform, EXOK - Freeform, EXOM - Freeform, Fluff, Gen, Hybrids, KaiSoo - Freeform, Luhan - Freeform, M/M, One-Shot, Oneshot, Romance, SHINee - Freeform, TaoRis - Freeform, XiuHan - Freeform, Yixing, junmyeon - Freeform, kpop, one shots, oneshots, otp, sexing, suchen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-06 22:53:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15205256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kainess/pseuds/kainess
Summary: This is a collection of one-shots that vary in length and plots from my original story The Three Hybrids. Each chapter will focus on a different pairing. && of course there will be one-shots about friendships as well because not everything has to be about romance :DPairings will include:SeXing (Sehun x Yixing)BaekYeol (Baekhyun x Chanyeol)SuChen (Suho x Chen)TaoRis (Tao x Kris)KaiSoo (Kai x Kyungsoo)XiuHan (Xiumin x Luhan)





	1. back to reality (taoris)

_word count: 4,178_

 

There's always been something about the taller black haired man that Tao could never quite place his finger on. He was cold to most people, even their own roommates. He's only known Kris for a little over a year and a half, but they've already bonded so much since becoming housemates. Tao notices small things with Kris. He's nicer to him than he is to most (despite barely tolerating him around the other housemates), _laughs_ around him (another thing that's rare if you knew him), and overall likes to hang out with him. 

Tao wants to think he's special, that Kris sees something in him and that's what keeps him around. He's not though, and he knows not to get his hopes up. Sehun has warned him time and time again not to get ahead of himself when it comes to Kris. Kris is not easy to read; he's not like most people, which is annoying to Tao as he specializes in reading people. But is it wrong for him to think that their gazes last a little longer than necessary? Is it wrong of him to daydream about his friend in certain situations? Is it wrong of him to think that there might be something there? 

"Zitao!" Tao's startled out of his thoughts when his mathematics professor shoots him a warning glare. "Maybe your grades wouldn't be in the state they are if you actually _paid attention._ " The boy becomes flustered, his cheeks growing red as he hears the snickering of his peers around him. He clears his throat softly, his fingers gripping onto his pen tightly. He didn't think his grades were _that_ bad but it was still embarrassing to have the professor point it out like that. He stares down at his math notes, his eyebrows furrowing as he tries to force himself to understand what the professor even did to get the answer. He thought college algebra was supposed to be easy? 

Thankfully class is over with only a few minutes after his professor vocally called him out, Tao grabbing his textbook and notebook from the table and throwing his bag over his shoulder. He manages to dart out the door before the professor can call after him, the boy sighing in relief as he pulls his phone from his pocket and checks for messages. His heart skips a beat (several actually) when seeing that he had a text from Kris but his eyes narrow when he realizes it was from the group chat him and the rest of his roommates were in. Of course. Why would Kris ever text him first, let alone text him in the first place. He grumbles under his breath as he stuffs his phone back into his pocket, clutching onto his books while hurrying out of the building and onto the campus. He was supposed to meet Kyungsoo and Jongin for lunch today, though he wasn't sure how excited he was considering the two recently had an odd chemistry. He couldn't quite describe it-- one moment they were joking around and acting like a pair of best friends, and then the next moment they wouldn't even sit near each other. He'd normally like to criticize the two for acting like a pair of high schoolers, but then he was acting the same towards Kris and even he would find that to be hypocritical. 

He was hoping maybe Baekhyun or Junmyeon would show up to lunch too, but they were normally leaving class this time of day and heading to work. He also hoped Kris would show up too, but Kris would rather die than hang out with everyone when he didn't need to. He decides to pull out his phone once again, dialing Sehun's number. He stares down at his shoes while waiting for an answer, the blonde eventually picking up after the third or fourth ring. 

"What?" The voice is deeper than normal, meaning that Sehun probably skipped class today and just woke up. 

"Is that any way to greet me?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. "So rude. I was going to ask if you wanted to have lunch together today. I'm feeling so over the food here and I want actual food. Maybe a sub or something-- wait, what do you want?" 

"Tao, I'm not even on the campus today. I don't have class on Mondays, remember?" Tao pauses for a second, his eyebrows furrowing and a long sigh leaving him when remembering that his best friend only has Tuesday and Thursday classes. He glances at the watch on his wrist; he'd have to meet Kyungsoo and Jongin in five minutes if he didn't figure something out. 

"Well," he's scrambling to come up with something, "aren't you even at least a little hungry? We can eat somewhere by the house. We can even bring Yixing. I love his company." Though he does feel like a third wheel around the pair now. That was rare in itself, out of all the years knowing Sehun he never thought he'd third wheel around his friend. He thought he'd surely get into a relationship before him. A relationship with a certain someone, but that's out of the topic. 

"Tao." His voice comes across as firm and Tao has to struggle to not sound or feel intimidated. "Are you avoiding lunch with Kyungsoo and Jongin? You'll hurt Jongin's feelings if he finds out about this. He might even cry." He grumbles and Tao's fairly sure he's rolling around in bed right now. Must be nice. 

"I'm not avoiding lunch with them." He can hear a snort from the other side of the phone. "Well-- listen." He huffs quietly. "They're an odd pair, don't you think? One minute they're all giggly and the next they're awkward and not wanting to even be in the same room. It gets uncomfortable, especially when you don't know what mood you'll catch them in." 

"You afraid of third wheeling?"

"I-- no! I never said that. I'm perfectly comfortable with myself to not feel self conscious about those kind of things. Why would you even assume that, Sehun?" He felt scandalized. "I love Kyungsoo and Jongin dearly-- and not because Kyungsoo cooks all our dinners." 

"Ah," Sehun laughs tiredly in the background, "good to know." He feels this odd feeling pinch at his heart when he can hear another voice in the background, one that he knows to belong to a certain fox hybrid. He wasn't sure when he started to grow jealous of the other, especially because he doesn't harbor any romantic feelings towards his friend. Yixing is a lovely individual and sometimes Tao can't help but to feel that he's stealing his best friend away. Sehun has hardly been hanging out with him anymore with the exceptions of when he's asking for advice on how to woo the fox hybrid and then spending their winter vacation together. Tao wasn't even sure if he could count that, especially when he overheard Yixing having to talk Sehun into inviting him. It was just one of the many things that hurt Tao's heart. 

"I see you're busy so I'll leave you be then." He replies curtly, ending the phone call before Sehun can even respond. He didn't like to be rude, but he also wasn't the best at dealing with his feelings. Between Sehun and Kris, Tao wasn't sure how to act anymore. He supposes he'd rather third wheel around Kyungsoo and Jongin over Sehun and Yixing. At least one of them didn't make him feel like complete and utter shit. No one ever prepares you for how it'll feel when watching someone else steal your best friend away. Especially when _you_ had part in hooking them up. Or that their partner was an actual angel from heaven sent to earth. There was a lot Tao wasn't prepared for. 

He straightens out his shirt before heading over to the cafeteria, his stomach already growling from both hunger and distaste from the food the campus had to offer. He can see Kyungsoo and Jongin sitting at a table by one of the windows as he approaches the large building, a small smile forcing its way onto his lips when Jongin waves over at him a little too enthusiastically for his liking. He waves back of course, wouldn't want to risk a scolding from Kyungsoo. "Hi, you guys." Tao nearly cringes from how high pitched and happy his own voice sounds, though shrugs it off as he takes the empty seat next to Jongin. 

"Hey." Jongin says, the skin around his eyes crinkling as he smiles. "How did your class go? Professor embarrass you again?" Tao nearly groans out loud from the question. Did his professor really call him out that much? He wiggles around in his seat with a pout on his lips, Kyungsoo snorting in response. "We'll take that as a yes then." He hums, poking around at the salad in front of him with his plastic fork. 

"Probably day dreaming about Kris again." Jongin snorts before shoving his pizza slice into his mouth. Tao scrunches his nose in distaste while watching the other shove the food into his mouth. "No." He mumbles, though doesn't put up a fight considering they were right. 

"Why don't you just talk to him?" Kyungsoo mumbles before popping a tomato into his mouth. 

"About what?" He decides he'll play it dumb. It's too early in the day to be confronted with any of this, especially when he doesn't even want to admit anything to himself. He was only willing to confront them when he was drunk out of his mind. Something that was becoming a little harder to do considering that the object of his affections was now with him every time he got drunk. Kyungsoo only shoots the other a look in return, not uttering another word afterwards. 

"He might like you back." This time it's Jongin who's speaking, wiping his mouth off with a brown napkin after finishing his pizza. "He's hard to read, so you never know."

"Doubt it." He wanted to believe his words, but Tao knew better. He knew better than to get his hopes up foolishly. It was just an unlikely thing that would ever happen. Maybe in another reality, another timeline, would Kris like him in return. That's something he didn't let himself dwell on too often. "But I wouldn't need that anyway. I'm not into him." He pulls out a lousy protein bar from his bag, peeling the wrapper off in a pathetic manner. "I fucking hate these things." He mutters. But he's broke and the school lunch is too expensive for him (not that he'd waste his money on it anyway) and Kris wasn't around to buy him lunch. Disgusting protein bars are the only affordable thing he can get from a vending machine on campus. 

"If you say so." Jongin snorts, Kyungsoo mumbling something about Tao being a liar under his breath before he and Jongin launch themselves into another conversation. He doesn't care though, because Tao spots a certain someone from across the cafeteria. In fact, he's got one hand on the handle of his bag and he's just about to push himself out of his seat to approach the other before freezing in his spot. His eyes narrow as he carefully looks ahead at the scene in front of him, anxiously licking his lips as his mind comes up with a million and one scenarios about what he's seeing. 

Kris was with a guy.

A guy who was a little too touchy for his liking and-- what was he doing? Did he really just run his hand down Kris' arm while laughing? Kris isn't that funny. Tao's no fool; he practically specializes in flirting. What was going on? Who was this and why was he hanging out with Kris? Why was he so touchy? Why did Tao feel like stabbing him in the shoulder with Kyungsoo's fork? He glances over at the fork before shaking his head briefly. Kris would never want him if he actually stabbed someone with a salad utensil. However, last time he recalled Kris did a couples costume with him, not with Big Nose over there. Not just anyone would dress as a Gucci bag owner for you. Even if you didn't give them much of a choice. Irrelevant. 

"What's up?" Kyungsoo asks while dabbing at his mouth with a napkin. "You usually don't glare off into the distance and then steal glances with my fork." Tao swears under his breath. He hated how the other was so damn observant. He decided he'd play it cool. After all, he would never admit out loud to liking Kris, especially to Kyungsoo or Jongin. As long as he was coy, there would be nothing to be suspicious of. Maybe Kris and Big Nose were friends.

"Who the hell is that?" It comes out as a hiss and Tao wants to slam his head into the table. So much for playing it cool. 

Both Jongin and Kyungsoo turn in their seats, Tao whining from how obvious they were making it. "Don't look at the same time! They'll see us." He covers his face with his hands out of embarrassment. Honestly, why did he talk to these two again? Maybe he should just start joining Baekhyun and Chanyeol for lunch dates or something-- he'd make something work. No, Chanyeol would be just as obvious if not more than Jongin and Kyungsoo. Maybe Jongdae and Junmyeon? Though Jongdae might become obvious just to spite him. Maybe he should just move out.

"Oh, you mean the guy with Kris?" Jongin asks as he turns back around in his seat. "I'm not sure who that is." He answers when seeing Tao's nod. He sighs in response, slumping back into his chair. If only looks could kill; all his competition would be nonexistent. 

"Why are you so concerned? I thought you didn't like him." Kyungsoo states while cleaning up his now empty salad container. "Why would it matter to you who Kris spends his free time with?"

Tao is so offended that he can only sputter in response. "I-- Listen, Kyungsoo," It takes him a full minute to pull himself together. "As his roommate, _we_ ," he makes sure to place exaggerated emphasis on the word we, "should be cautious about who our roommates hook up with. What if this guy is no good, huh? What if he hurts Kris? Then we have to deal with a depressed and mopey Kris and that's just too much work." He scrunches his nose in distaste. "And I'll tell you what, I'm not about to babysit a devastated lovesick teenager because Big Nose over there decided to break his heart." He crosses his arms over his chest as he huffs, his protein bar completely forgotten about on the table. "Kris is a very sensitive man, he just doesn't show it. He shouldn't be taken advantage of." 

Jongin awkwardly clears his throat as he finishes up his pizza, Kyungsoo shaking his head. "You don't know him. What if he's a nice guy? Besides, you don't even know if there's anything going on between the two--"

"He's touching his arm, Kyungsoo. He's flirting, I specialize in flirting. Put this into perspective," He clears his throat as he sits up in his seat, leaning over the table slightly. "Say you make an awful joke, but Jongin laughs at it like it's the funniest thing he's ever heard. On top of that, Jongin places his hand on your arm while laughing and then just happens to slide his hand down your arm." He has to contain his amusement when seeing both Jongin and Kyungsoo grow red. "That's flirting. There's nothing platonic about that. Friends don't act like that. And Big Nose is certainly not acting like a friend." He's tapping his foot angrily against the floor while watching Kris and Big Nose chatting away in the cafeteria line. 

"But Tao, that's just--"

"Exactly." He interrupts Jongin hastily. "Friendly my ass." He hops up from his seat, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Kyungsoo manages to choke out.

"I'm going to introduce myself." He responds with a sickingly sweet smile. Before Jongin or Kyungsoo can talk any sense into him, Tao struts over to the pair that aren't too far away. His eyes narrowed and locked on his target. "Kris, so funny. I didn't expect to see you here today." Of course he did, they have classes on the same day, but that didn't matter. Kris turns around upon hearing Tao's comment as well as Big Nose. He probably wasn't even that cute. He's nothing special; nothing that Tao hasn't seen before. He wasn't too tall either-- 

Tao has to hold back a surprised gasp when seeing that Kris was actually with Taemin. What was he doing with Taemin? Taemin hated everyone with the exception of Jongin, Sehun, and Luhan. Well, he only liked Sehun because he was the only reason he was passing college, but still. But Kris? And Taemin? Together? Has hell froze over? What was he witnessing right now? 

"Oh. Hi, Tao." Taemin immediately looks bored as he addresses Tao. 

Kris is just standing silently, looking between the two. "Since when were you two friends? I remember you hating everyone that wasn't inside your friend group." Tao wasn't here to place nice and neither was Taemin. He didn't trust him, not one bit. And with Kris? No way in hell. 

"Kris is in that friend group." He says while pulling out his phone and checking the time. "I didn't realize it concerned you." Tao's eye twitches as he tries to keep himself mostly calm. Why the hell was Taemin flirting with Kris? Kris totally wasn't his type-- someone like Minho or Jongin would be his type, but not Kris. Kris was Tao's type and Tao and Taemin were two completely different people. "Can we help you or..?" Taemin has his hand on his hip as he looks at the other with an uninterested expression. "We were in the middle of a conversation before you interrupted us."

"Oh, were you now?" Tao mimics his movements, his hand on his hip as well. "I didn't realize it was such a top secret conversation." 

"Hey, guys!" Tao groans inwardly when Jongin walks up to the group, the look of awkwardness on Kris' face only increasing. Tao was sure Jongin only came over because he could tell the tension between his two friends were building. He had no idea how someone like Jongin could be friends with someone like Taemin. Jongin was too sweet and pure to hang around someone as...just someone like Taemin. He wasn't even sure how Taemin's roommates hung around him. 

Jongin throws his arms around both Taemin and Tao, tugging the two of them closer. Tao wasn't sure if he was doing this on purpose or not. "How are my three favorite people doing?" He asks as Kyungsoo approaches the group as well. 

"Kris and I were just discussing about the project for our ceramics class. We were assigned as partners." He sighs before peeling Jongin's arm off his shoulders. "I was pleasantly surprised to see that Kris actually knows what he's doing when it comes to sculpting. I thought he would be as useless as the rest of his roommates, with the exception of a select few. That reminds me, how's fashion design going for you, Tao?" He has a smug grin on his lips, one that Tao wants to punch off his face, but he couldn't afford the anger management classes that Junmyeon would certainly force him to attend. "Let me know when you manage to find a job with that." 

"It's going great. I'll have you know that I'm currently the top of my class for photography as well as my fashion business and portfolio class." He snaps as Jongin manages to keep a tight hold on him. Probably to keep him from lunging at Taemin, Tao would assume. 

"Not hard to be top of your class when there's only a total of seven students." Taemin fires back. 

"Fifteen." Tao scoffs as he leans back into Jongin's hold. "Anyway, I have to take most of the same courses as you, so I don't know why you're criticizing me. Wouldn't you just be criticizing yourself?" 

"We took two of the same classes, Tao. I hardly count that as most. Unless your program only requires a handful of classes. In which case that would just be tragic." He rolls his eyes before turning his attention back to Kris. "I have to go now. It was nice seeing you and your...friends. See you later." It's hard for Tao to miss the angelic smile Taemin gives Kris, or the gentle way his hand squeezes his arm before he bids Jongin farewell and shoves past Tao and Kyungsoo. 

"I can't believe you're friends with him." Kyungsoo mutters to Jongin while rubbing his arm in the spot that Taemin brushed up against. "Do you have no standards? And seriously, Kris? I thought you had higher standards for the people you hang around."

"He's not my friend." Kris immediately states. "He's just my partner for a project. I have to work with him to get a passing grade. He's coming over to the house tomorrow to help me brainstorm ideas--"

"He's coming over? And to actually help?" Jongin asks with a raised eyebrow. "He must really like you. He won't even brainstorm with me when whenever we had projects together back in high school."

"The professor is grading it for participation. We have two different art styles so he'll know whether or not Taemin contributed." As much sense as that made, Tao still couldn't help the burning feeling of jealousy that was gripping at his heart. Taemin didn't deserve to work with someone like Kris. He didn't even deserve to breathe the same air as him. The nerve of this man--

"What was up with you two anyway?" Kris locks his phone and slips it into his back pocket. "Was the bickering really necessary? You know I hate confrontation. You won't do that to him tomorrow, right?"

"Only if he doesn't start it with me. Which knowing him, he'll open his big fat mouth anyway. And why," Tao spins around on his heels to face Jongin, eyes narrowed, "didn't you warn me that Big Nose was actually Taemin?"

"You were calling Taemin Big Nose?" Kris asks with a raised eyebrow. "His nose isn't even big."

"It looks big from the side. What do you want me to say?" He huffs before bringing his attention back to Jongin. "Well?"

"I tried, but you interrupted me and left before I could say anything else." He shrugs his shoulders while speaking. "I thought it was him at first, but it didn't make sense to see Taemin talking to someone like Kris."

"Ouch." He deadpans from behind the two. "Thanks for the boost to my ego."

"Any time." Jongin waves his hand lazily. "Anyway, I have another class in twenty minutes so I should really get going. Kyungsoo said he'd wait for me to get off so we can go home together." Both Kris and Tao give Kyungsoo a questionable look.

"He's my ride." He quickly explains with dark red cheeks.

"Right." Kris mutters. "I was going to grab lunch with Taemin, but that went well. I guess I can just eat something at home." Tao quickly nods his head in agreement. "I was going to eat too, but..." He furrows his eyebrows as he tries to come up with an excuse. "But I had no money. So you can buy me lunch now, right? Or should we eat at home together?" Kris only sighs in response. 

"Let's just go home. I'll make us something there." Tao can't help the grin that forms on his lips as he hugs Kris' arm, pressing himself to his side as the two bid their farewells to Kyungsoo and Jongin before heading out of the cafeteria. He was happy with the way things were right now, honest. He just couldn't help the feeling of something unpleasant forming in his gut over the fact that Kris and Taemin were now partners for a project. Something didn't sit right, especially when he saw the way Taemin was looking at him. He sighs softly as he keeps his arms around Kris' arm tightly. He didn't think Taemin was Kris' type. He was never into men who were so full of themselves but then couldn't the same be said about Tao? He was similar to Taemin in many aspects, but he liked to think that he was just an overall more pleasant person to hang around with. Now that he thinks of it, Kris has never outright said what his type was. What if he wasn't Kris' type at all?

Maybe he's asking for too much. Maybe it's just not something meant to happen in his reality. 

\---

_A/N: you guys have been asking to see some more of taoris (understandably so) so i thought it would be the most fitting to start the series off with a one-shot dedicated to taoris! i hope you guys liked it ;;u;;_

_our babies are cute._

__


	2. peach jam (suchen)

_word count: 3,791_

 

"Come on, don't fall asleep. I want to go on round four!"

Junmyeon gawks at this, immediately sitting up from his previous position. "Jongdae, are you kidding me?" He stares down exasperated at the board game of monopoly that's on the floor, Jongdae's tail swaying behind him as he gazes expectedly at the other. His collar shines brightly from the reflection of the ceiling light shining down on him, Junmyeon groaning loudly. "We've played this for the last five hours. I don't want to play another round of monopoly." 

"You're just nervous I'll beat you for the third time." Jongdae scoffs as he pushes himself to sit up, previously lying on his stomach, the other man mumbling how he won the first game. The pair were situated in the living room, Junmyeon having a day off from both work and class and Jongdae had planned to take up all of the other man's attention. Sure, Junmyeon had other things to do like pay the bills, grocery shop, work on homework, but Jongdae's clearly the most important priority the other could have. 

"Jongdae, I do have other things that I need to get done today. You know that, right?" He's not sure why he agreed to this in the first place. He knew that once he agreed to Jongdae that the other would hog his time as much as humanly possible. Then again, you try saying no to an irritable cat hybrid and see how well that goes. Maybe your pride will survive, but your favorite clothes certainly won't. 

"You can do all of that another day. This is your day off, Junmyeon."

"Exactly, which is why I need to get these things done." He explains as he gathers the paper money into one pile before neatly sliding them into a Ziploc bag. "Because I won't have the time to do it another day. I'll be too tired when I get home from work or class. Besides, you want to snuggle the rest of the night when I come home anyway. You wouldn't let me do it then either." Jongdae puffs air into his cheeks at this. He had a good point. He really did love Junmyeon's cuddles, though he'd never admit it. Still, Jongdae needed daily cuddles and he was really only willing to accept them from Junmyeon. 

"Now help me clean up this game so I can finish what I need to do and then," he lets out a long sigh before finishing, "and then we can spend more time together." He really wanted to take a nap, actually, but he knew Jongdae would never let him do that despite the other napping so frequently. He napped more than Chanyeol and that was impressive in itself. 

"Only if you promise." Jongdae huffs, though he was collecting the cards from the game anyway. 

"I promise." Junmyeon mumbles as the two get the board game cleaned up and put away. "Why don't you hang out with Yixing or Chanyeol while I finish my homework."

"Yes," Jongdae huffs while glaring at Junmyeon, "so I can third wheel with either Sehun and Yixing or Baekhyun and Chanyeol. Besides it's," he quickly glances at the clock on the wall, "almost four and that means Chanyeol will be living his best life soon since Baekhyun will get back from work. He'll be too excited to talk to. He practically waits thirty minutes in advance." And as if on cue, Chanyeol darts out from the hall and plants himself right in front of the front door. "He has to be the first thing Baekhyun sees, ya know?" Jongdae glances over at the dog hybrid before chuckling. 

"You don't wait for me like that." Junmyeon points out when the game is finally put back into it's box. He glances slightly at Chanyeol, a small frown on his lips that doesn't go unnoticed by the hybrid. 

"I'm also not a dog, Junmyeon." The hybrid states flatly. "I'll let you get to it." He drawls out before pushing himself to stand up. "I'll be on the couch watching a movie or drama while you do your boring adult stuff. Come get me for snuggles when you're done." Junmyeon's eyebrows furrow at this though he only shakes his head as he picks up the monopoly box. He rolls his eyes slightly from the response Jongdae gave him, though he wasn't necessarily surprised. He wasn't sure what he was expecting from the other at this point. He can hear the front door unlock and open as he walks down the hall towards the closet where they kept their stash of games. Baekhyun was home earlier than expected. He was sure Chanyeol was just over the moon with that. He opens the door, sliding the monopoly box into a spot that was its exact fit. As he closes the closet door he can hear Chanyeol jumping onto Baekhyun, whining loudly as he more than likely peppered his face with kisses. 

Jongdae never got that excited if he came home early. He would occasionally stick his head out from the hallway or lift his head from whatever drama he was watching (this week it was Secret Garden) and would briefly show him acknowledgement before demanding for his evening cuddles. He really only seemed to care about his whereabouts when cuddling was involved. He wished he would act like Chanyeol every now and then. Not in the overly hyper dog hybrid way, but just to actually care about him from time to time. It felt very one-sided. Ever since Jongdae had accidentally marked him as his lifemate the dynamics between the two had been a little off. Jongdae hasn't spoken about it and Junmyeon doesn't know how to bring it up. The only thing that reminds him of the incident that happened was the large mark that took up nearly half his neck. It used to be a noticeable red and pink color, though it had faded. It never bruised and it only throbbed every now and then. He could cover it with foundation on most days, though if he didn't he just lied and said it was a burn scar to his classmates and co-workers. 

He goes into his room, plopping down onto his bed and pulling out his laptop that was stashed underneath the bed. He had a considerable amount of homework and he knew that he needed to finish at least five assignments if he wanted to stay caught up with his class. He rubs his hands over his face lazily as he pulls up the school website, moving over to his course and logging in where his assignments were kept. 

Maybe it was a good thing that Jongdae wasn't like Chanyeol. He wouldn't be able to get his homework done if Jongdae was always begging for his attention. Jongdae was independent and he didn't like to put his emotions out there often. Maybe he was asking for too much. Should he just ignore him and make the feeling go away? That could be a solution. He grabs his textbook from his nightstand, flipping it open to chapter eight, a chapter that spoke about how to deal with misbehaving children and incentives to make them perform better in school. 

He spends the next two hours doing nothing but school work, closing his laptop when finally finishing up. His head was throbbing from the information that he was pumping into quizzes and short essay questions, his body screaming at him to take a break. He decides to listen, though only so he could pay the bills so they don't lose power for the third time. He stumbles out of his room and into the hallway, dragging himself into the kitchen to look at the stack of bills that have been piled on the counter. He swears under his breath as he thumbs through them. He knew the landlord dropped them off earlier as a way to show how much their rent would be this month. 

"Junmyeon." Jongdae calls out when seeing Junmyeon up and out of his room. "Are you finished with your homework now?" His ears perk up as he sits up straighter, his eyes on the lean figure in the kitchen. Junmyeon instead ignores this, doesn't even send a glance Jongdae's way. He chews on his bottom lip, determined not to cave in like he normally would. He needed to sort some things out first.

Sehun and Yixing trail in the kitchen afterwards, Yixing smiling brightly as he sits on a stool by Junmyeon. "Hi, Junmyeon." The fox hybrid greets softly as he spins slightly in his seat, Sehun walking over to the fridge in hopes of finding something to cook up. 

"Hi, Yixing." He doesn't miss the way he catches Yixing staring at the blond male in the kitchen, his heart sinking slightly. 

_Jongdae never looked at him like that._

Jongdae frowns slightly when he doesn't get an answer but Yixing does, rolling his eyes before bringing his attention back to his drama and mumbling a  _whatever._  

Junmyeon sighs as he scoops up the bills in his hands, looking back up to see Yixing still staring at Sehun as he attempts to raid the fridge. Joke was on him, they didn't have much food left. A grocery trip was sadly in Junmyeon's near future. After growing bored of Yixing and Sehun's odd attempts at flirting and Sehun bragging about his nonexistent cooking skills, Junmyeon decides he's had enough and slips out of the kitchen unnoticed, glancing at the now napping cat hybrid on the couch before disappearing back down the hall and into his room. He neatly places the bills on his mattress, eyes widening when realizing that they owed more than they normally did. It must have been from the additional three people in their house now. 

He quickly jumps from his bed and darts back to the kitchen. He grabs the jar of money from the counter, the one that everyone stuffed change and money into for the bills. They had a separate one for grocery money as well. They lived in a shitty rented house, one that only had six bedrooms and resulted in most of the men rooming together or alternating every other week. It was normally $2,400 a month, which for the six bedrooms meant $400 for each person. However, since there was originally nine people living in the house it normally meant a little less than $270 for each person, which was doable. However, now the rent was jacked up to $3,000 so it could be that the landlord found out that there was well more than six people in the house, which threw everything off. 

"What's going on?" Jongdae asks from his spot on the couch, waking up from his small cat nap from the noise Junmyeon was causing.

Junmyeon flushes slightly at Jongdae calling out to him, though he swallows a lump in his throat and focuses on the situation in front of him. Of course, it was easier to ignore Jongdae before he was marked. Now his body just wants to be around him all day. He sighs softly and shakes his head to bring him out of his thoughts. Jongdae who? Never heard of him.

"What's going on?" Sehun asks this time when noticing the stressed expression on Junmyeon's face. "Our rent is now," he quickly pulls out his phone and types in the calculator, "$333 instead of what it was before." Jongdae's eyes narrow and he glares at the blond when noting that Junmyeon ignored his question but answered Sehun's instead. 

"What? Why?" This time it's Baekhyun who's sitting on the same couch as Jongdae, Chanyeol clinging to his side. 

"I guess the landlord found out there was more than six of us here."

"$3,000 for such a shitty house. It's literally falling apart. I bet it's only because we're near the city." Baekhyun scoffs as he rubs Chanyeol's back soothingly. It's not like Junmyeon could ask Chanyeol, Jongdae, or Yixing to pay rent. They didn't have jobs, at least not to his knowledge. "There's also the chance that it'll be upped again soon when he finds out there's twelve of us in total. We're being charged rent for seven or eight people right now. When the landlord finds out just how many there are, we could be really struggling soon." He sighs and looks back at the jar. "We don't have enough money in here. Does anyone have any extra?" He knew it was unfair to ask for more money last minute, especially when classes just started back up and most of the men had spent the last of their money on their classes or on class supplies. 

"How much do we have right now?" Sehun asks as he peers into the jar. 

"Exactly $2,400. We're $600 short and the landlord will be coming to collect soon." Junmyeon taps on his on his chin before turning to look at Jongdae. "Can you round up the rest of the house?" Jongdae tries to contain his excitement when finally being addressed by the other. 

"Why me?" The hybrid scoffs, trying to play cool.

"Because you're loud and they'll listen to you." He states before looking back at the jar in front of him. "We might have to dip into our grocery jar." 

 

 

Junmyeon manages to get the rest of the money, some from the grocery jar and some from the rest of his roommates. Everyone was now more broke than they were before and should they go grocery shopping this week they'd only be able to afford a few things. He flops down on his bed, feeling exhausted and wanting nothing more than to sleep and have another day off. Of course he doesn't have the day off tomorrow, but he could dream. He lifts his head slightly when hearing the bedroom door creak open, watching as Jongdae's head pops inside. 

He feels his heart drop in dread when spotting the familiar face, turning on his side so that he doesn't have to look at him any longer. "I can tell you're not asleep." Jongdae says as soon as Junmyeon tries to pretend he's asleep. "Your breathing is too erratic to be asleep unless you're having a nightmare or... a _wet dream._ " He laughs loudly when he sees Junmyeon grow stiff underneath his bed sheets. 

He pouts slightly and crosses his arms over his chest when Junmyeon doesn't offer him a response. He was feeling rather proud about the last comment, so he was disappointed in the lack of response. "Junmyeon, I know you're awake. I want to cuddle with you. It's almost night and we haven't cuddled yet." 

More silence.

"Junmyeon, are you ignoring me?" His voice comes across as soft, the hybrid feeling confused at the thought of Junmyeon ignoring him. He didn't think he did anything wrong. At least, he acted the way he normally did day to day. "Junmyeon, why are you ignoring me?" He pushes the mattress of his bed with his foot, his tail swaying behind him as he glares down at the bed. "Junmyeon!" 

"What do you want?" Junmyeon sighs when hearing the other grow frustrated. He doesn't get up though, instead staying comfortable under his sheets. 

"Why are you ignoring me? You've been ignoring me ever since we finished monopoly. Are you mad because you found out I let you win the first game? Listen, I thought you'd be happy if you started off on a winning streak, albeit short, but ~~\--~~ "

"You let me win the first game?" Junmyeon immediately shoots up, shooting the other a scandalized look. 

"So it's not that then." Jongdae mutters when realizing that he didn't know about that. "Then why are you ignoring me? Humans only ignore people that they don't like, or if they're mad. Are you mad at me? Or do you not like me? I think we'd have a sleeping arrangement issue if you don't like me." 

"Why do you want to cuddle with me?" Junmyeon suddenly asks as he stares at the other. "Don't you have Yixing or Chanyeol to cuddle with? I'm sure they'd let you."

"Well, I don't think that would be appropriate. Now that Yixing and Sehun are...in _something_ togetherand Baekhyun and Chanyeol are just hard to read. They might get jealous. Besides, you're my lifemate so I have to cuddle with you. It's like, the rules, or something like that." 

Junmyeon can't help but snort out of annoyance. Of course he'd only cuddle with him because there's a stupid mark on his neck that forces him to. "So you're only cuddling with me because I'm your lifemate then?" 

"Duh. I wouldn't want to touch you otherwise." He's fairly sure that Jongdae is just being sarcastic, yet something about the dig still rubs him the right way. "Then cuddle something else. Why don't you grab a pillow and cuddle with it since I'm so untouchable." Jongdae watches the annoyed man with an amused grin, his head tilting to the side. "I can tell how much you hate this outcome, you know. Even though this was technically _your_ fault." He makes sure to dump the blame onto Jongdae, because, of course it's his fault. Junmyeon never asked for Jongdae to mark him on accident. As far as he's concerned this didn't involve him at all. "And I can tell how much you hate my company." 

Jongdae laughs at this and it only further annoys the older man sitting in his bed. "Why are you laughing? Are you really ~~\--~~ do you really enjoying pissing me off that much?" He asks with wide eyes. He felt like he was constantly running in circles every time he spoke to the hybrid. He just had that way about him. "You never talk to me unless you want something. Why don't you hang out with me because you want to? Yixing's always hanging out with Sehun and Chanyeol's always waiting for Baekhyun to come back home. Why don't you greet me when I come home? You used to." Jongdae raises an eyebrow at Junmyeon's claims before breaking back out into a wide grin. 

"Are you jealous of them?" He asks after a moment of silence.

"Me? Jealous of them?" The other looks more scandalized than he did earlier as well as offended. "What is there to be jealous of?"

"You want me drooling over you like Chanyeol drools over Baekhyun? _I'm not a dog, Junmyeon._ " He sighs as if he were bored. 

"I never said that I wanted you to drool over me, Jongdae. Where are you even getting these ideas?" Jongdae ignores the other as he walks towards the bed before climbing on and sitting, stealing the covers from the other so that he can wrap himself in them instead. 

"I didn't think I needed to follow you around like a lost puppy like Chanyeol does to Baekhyun. I assumed you liked your alone time." His ear twitches as he looks at the other. "And Yixing and Sehun have their own dynamics. They don't even know if they're friends or boyfriends. Why would you want to copy them? I'm not Chanyeol and I'm not Yixing; I'm not going to follow you around everywhere and demand your attention constantly ~~\--~~ "

"You always demand my attention." 

" ~~\--~~ you could have just said you were jealous." He quickly cuts the other off before he can complain over his word choice. "Because that's what you are. Anyway, are you really upset?" He asks as he leans back slightly. He needed to know if he should take this conversation seriously. It's when Junmyeon avoids his eye contact and a faint blush creeps on his cheeks that Jongdae sighs softly. As much as he enjoys pissing the other off and messing around with him, upsetting him was something else. He wiggles closer to Junmyeon, keeping the thick pile of blankets wrapped around him. 

"I like your company, Junmyeon." He says quietly, Junmyeon looking up to see a small smile on his lips. It was a sincere smile. "But you're also reserved and you get tired if I spend too much time with you. I can't harass you all day like Chanyeol does to Baekhyun, even though I want to, because you'll grow tired." He eventually ditches the blankets, instead opting to sit in Junmyeon's lap. Listen, he was still missing out on his cuddling time and if he could kill two birds with one stone then he would. "Why do you always think so lowly of yourself?" He tucks his head under Junmyeon's chin, his arms wrapping his waist tightly as he presses himself against the other. 

He hums in content when feeling Junmyeon's strong arms wrap around him as well, his tail carefully wrapping around his left arm. "If you're feeling upset you should talk to me. I don't want to be the reason that you're ever feeling down. I only like to mess with you, not upset you." He presses a gentle kiss to Junmyeon's chest, the fabric of his shirt in the way but Jongdae doesn't mind. "And besides, I don't need to hunt you down or yell for you. I wait patiently in bed and then you come and snuggle me. You already know what I expect by now, so why make a fuss and chase you down like Chanyeol? Besides, Baekhyun likes to be sought after, but you aren't the same as Baekhyun. I can read personalities, Jun." He leans back and quickly pecks the other's soft cheek. "So why should I treat you like him, huh?" Junmyeon falters slightly from the kiss to his cheek, the skin turning a soft shade of red. "You are my mate, remember? I know what you like." It was rare that Jongdae would be gentle or soft with the other, Junmyeon was far too used to sarcastic insults thrown at him left and right.

Junmyeon smiles shyly as he keeps Jongdae close, burying his face in his hair. "Ah, see? Now you're not upset anymore because we talked it out. Like adults." He giggles quietly as he pokes Junmyeon's side gently. "Now snuggle me because our snuggle time is long overdue and you know how I get." He moves out of Junmyeon's lap after this, crawling under the sheets and looking at the other expectantly. "Well, come on." He was impatient, his tone an indicator. 

Junmyeon rolls his eyes at this though crawls under the sheets as well. Jongdae's in his arms within seconds, his arms wrapped tight around his waist as he buries his face in his chest. "And you know that I was joking earlier, right? I don't want to snuggle with anyone else but you, Jun." 

He may or may not have felt his heart flutter at the hybrid's words.

\---

_A/N: Because we all missed suchen, right?_

_also why do i always forget that jongdae is taller than suho_

__


	3. sticky notes & kisses (baekyeol/chanbaek)

_word count: 3,380_

The weather outside currently matches Baekhyun's state of mind. Gray, windy, dark, stormy, and even some loud thunder going off in his head every now and then. Chanyeol's cowering somewhere in the household due to the storm, which isn't in their room ~~\--~~ much to Baekhyun's own bewilderment. He glances out his bedroom window, eyes taking in the rain that's slamming down onto the earth, staining everything a shade darker than it's original color. Rain drops are rolling down the window and a soft sigh escapes him as he sits in the middle of his bed, completely curled up in his sheets and resembling a burrito. He didn't want to do anything today; he was in one of his moods that he got in every now and then. The rest of the house knew not to bother him unless he didn't come out of his room by the following day or should they put up with his foul temper. Chanyeol was slightly accustomed to his mood swings by now, though he still wasn't sure how to deal with it. Baekhyun always told him not to worry about it and to just give him his space. Chanyeol didn't know what that meant though.

He shouldn't lounge in bed all day despite his mind demanding it. It was his one day off this week from both school and work and Baekhyun wanted to be at least somewhat productive today. He mumbles under his breath as he tosses the sheets off himself, the cold air immediately hitting his body. He shivers to himself before sliding off the side of his bed, eyes narrowed as he walks across the bedroom floor. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do today. He could do some chores, read, or work on some homework; none of which sounding too enticing to Baekhyun right now. He wraps his hand around the rusted doorknob, swinging the door open before stumbling back a few steps when seeing Chanyeol waiting patiently on the other side of the door in probably the biggest and cutest oversized red sweater he's ever seen in his life. 

"Chanyeol, what are you doing?" He asks with raised eyebrows. He thinks his heart's about to give out on him.

"Waiting for you." He responds as soon as Baekhyun asked the question, his heart definitely not missing that. 

"I don't have anything planned for today. Why don't you go hang out with Yixing or Jongdae, yeah? Oh, you could hang out with Kyungsoo. He could teach you to cook. I know you've been wanting to learn." Chanyeol frowns as he lingers in his spot, Baekhyun walking past him and into the living room. "Where are you going?" The taller asks, following after him with his ears perked up. 

"I'm going to grab my textbooks and then work on some math homework." He hated math; it was the one class where he did everything super last minute. Baekhyun's always been one of the top students in his classes, but math was always his sore spot. Just one of the several things that left him feeling incompetent. "I can help." Chanyeol knows he can't, but he doesn't want Baekhyun to be left alone. Despite Junmyeon and Minseok warning him on separate occasions (even Jongdae once as well) that he should leave Baekhyun alone when he's feeling upset, he can't help but feel concerned over the other's safety. Even if it annoyed him, Chanyeol just wanted to stay by his side as much as possible. Baekhyun keeps his tongue in cheek, opting out of stating the obvious that Chanyeol can't solve math problems for the life of him. Chanyeol was one of the few people that he'd watch his temper around when in his moods. Normally he'd just pop off on the next innocent person, but Chanyeol was different for so many different reasons.

"If that's what you want." He finally says, bending over and grabbing his book bag off the floor that was seated by the door, sitting alongside the bags from his roommates. "But you can't distract me. I have to get this done by tonight." He warns firmly, pulling out one of the thickest books that Chanyeol's ever seen in his life. "You're sure there's not a hidden novel in there?" He snorts, a small grin forming on the shorter male's lips. "I'll let you know if I find one." 

The pair lazily stroll over to the dining room table, the table that they spend more hours completing homework on rather than actually eating off. Chanyeol decides to sit next to Baekhyun rather than across from him, though the other doesn't seem to mind too much. "What is this?" Chanyeol asks as his eyebrows furrow together as he glances down at the complex problems on the pages he turned to. "This is math? Why does it look so...complicated? And why are the examples so long? Is that whole page just one problem?" Baekhyun laughs a hearty laugh when seeing the facial expression that he pulls. 

"Logarithmic equations. They get worse the further you get." He sighs shakily as he stares down at his blank piece of notebook paper, his pencil twirling between his fingers. "I've never struggled so hard with a math concept before fucking logarithmics." He grumbles under his breath, chewing on his bottom lip as his eyes scan at the problem he had to solve. 

**_1(a). log 2(5+2x)-log2(4-x)=3_ **

Chanyeol's sitting idly by his side, playing with his fingers while Baekhyun mentally has a breakdown in his mind. "I'm too dumb for this shit." He mutters under his breath, a long sigh leaving him afterward. "I should drop out now while I'm ahead of myself. I don't even know why I need this for my career field." He buries his face in his hands before burying his face in his textbook. "God!" He suddenly shouts as he slams himself back in his seat, Chanyeol jumping slightly from the sudden loud noise. "I spend hours and hours on this and I still can't get it, and you know what my professor said to me the other day, Yeollie?" He quickly turns to Chanyeol, eyes wide and his hair sticking out in random places. Of course Chanyeol doesn't have any time to respond before the silver headed man starts ranting again. "He said I wasn't trying!"

"Why would he say that?" He asks with the tilt of his head. 

"Because I failed an exam for the first time in my entire life." He can feel his heart drop into his stomach just from those words alone. He couldn't believe he failed his first exam for the class with not even scoring a fifty percent on it. His grade and GPA alike were both suffering. "And I tried to explain that I just didn't understand the material, but he insisted that I wasn't paying attention or just didn't give a shit about the class. I've never wanted to punch a professor in the face so badly before, Yeollie." Chanyeol frowns as he listens, leaning over and pressing a soft and brief kiss to his cheek. 

"My Baekhyunnie is smart." Baekhyun smiles slightly at this, though shakes his head afterwards. "I'm really not. This class is only making it more obvious. It's so embarrassing. Everyone in the class knows what they're doing and no one ever needs to ask questions. Everyone passed the exam with flying colors too. It was just me who failed. Why can't I understand this?" He buries his hands in his hair, his fingers curling up against his scalp. He leans over to the textbook, his fingers still gripping onto strands of his hair as he stares down at the blank piece of paper placed on his textbook. Chanyeol frowns as he quietly observes his owner beside him. He sees his shoulders visibly tense, the outline of his figure starting to gentle shake as he curls into himself. 

"Baekhyun ~~\--~~ " 

"Why am I so stupid?" 

"You aren't." He quickly defends the man against himself. 

"I'm stupid and I can't do anything right." His voice is starting to waver slightly as he speaks, and if there's one thing Baekhyun absolutely despises it's crying in front of people. Especially Chanyeol. It was something he rarely did, but when he did he liked to be alone. "I feel like such a fucking loser." He's starting to work himself up and he knows it, but at the same time it feels somewhat relieving to let everything he's been feeling off his chest. "I have these kids in my class ~~\--~~ _kids_ , Chanyeol. They're like, what? ~~\--~~ eighteen and nineteen; some even _seventeen_ and they understand this better than I do! I mean, what kind of idiot am I, huh? I've been doing so well up until this point, and now I'm just watching my GPA fall apart right in front of me." Chanyeol can see tears falling onto the blank piece of paper below him, and that's when it strikes him that the other is crying. _His Baekhyun is crying._  

"And on top of everything, Yeol, I've gained weight and I think my boss is close to firing me." His voice just cracked and he's painfully aware of it. "How the fuck can I even gain weight when we don't even have that much food in the house? And my boss ~~\--~~ my stupid piece of shit boss." Tears are visibly streaming down his cheeks now and Baekhyun couldn't care less about his appearance right now. "All because some stupid fucking customer ~~\--~~ " Chanyeol pushes his chair back before carefully pulling the smaller boy into his lap, rubbing his back soothingly as Baekhyun buries his face in his chest. "Why is everything so unfair to me recently? I can't even afford to lose my job or fail my class or have my GPA slip. I'll lose my financial aid and then I'll lose my job as a result, which seems to be something I'll end up losing regardless, and then I'll have my classes dropped and I'll have to drop out all together and ~~\--~~ goddammit, why can't I just do anything right? No one else is struggling with their classes this semester, Yeol!" Chanyeol just lets the boy cry into his chest while trying to keep his shaking down to a minimum. "Minseok is doing so well this semester and Kyungsoo is killing it; I even think Junmyeon has his shit together better than I do. And that's saying a lot given his current state." 

"Baekhyun, I think you're being too hard on yourself." Chanyeol says with concern filling his voice. "Self criticism is good, but I think you're going overboard."

"I'm not going overboard if I'm just stating the facts, Chanyeol." He whimpers, pulling away slightly so he could look up at the other. "You have a stupid fucking owner, and I," his eyes well up with even more tears, his bottom lip trembling as he averts his eyes from the other, "I'm so sorry that you have to have someone like me as your owner." To say that Chanyeol's heart broke by his words would be an understatement. How could someone as lovely as Baekhyun think so poorly of himself? 

"Why are you saying these things?" He asks as he pulls away slightly. "I wouldn't want anyone else as my owner and you should know that. No one would ever treat me as good as you." He smiles brightly at this, leaning down slightly and kissing the tears off Baekhyun's cheeks. "Why are you being so hard on yourself today? I can ask Minseok or Kyungsoo to help find you a math tutor if you really need it. I can't have you crying all day over something as useless as math. It's not worth your tears." Baekhyun shakes his head at his words, his cheeks stained from the tears. "I'm still stupid." 

Chanyeol scrunches his nose at this, wiggling himself out from under Baekhyun and slipping out of the chair. "Stay right there." He huffs before cutely booping the smaller on the nose, hurrying off in the direction of their shared room. Before the other can even start to question what the hybrid is up to, Chanyeol is back with sticky notes and a pen in hand. He just stares at the other with a raised eyebrow as Chanyeol takes the empty seat next to him. "You shouldn't say so many mean things about yourself."

"They aren't necessarily mean if they're true." He says as he rubs at his wet eyes in an attempt to dry them off. "Very mean and not at all true." Chanyeol mumbles as he places the sticky notes onto the table, leaning over and jotting a word on each one. "What are you doing?" Baekhyun asks quietly, closing his textbook and pushing it to the side. He'd have to finish his homework later when he was in a much better mood, though he found that impossible if it meant dealing with his homework. 

"No peeking!" He playfully scolds, shooing the other away when he tries to peer over his shoulder. Once he finishes he stacks them up into a pile before facing the other once again. Baekhyun's only staring at him with a confused expression, Chanyeol wiggling in his seat proudly before peeling off the first note from the stack. He feels his cheeks redden when he reads the word sloppily scribbled on it.

**BEAUTIFUL**

"Because you're the most beautiful human I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot." Baekhyun can't help but snort at this. His snort, however, turns into a full blown laugh when Chanyeol presses the purple sticky note to the front of Baekhyun's baby blue hoodie.

**KIND**

"Because you let the three of us in to live in your home." He mumbles as he presses the green note to his right cheek. "And because you defend any of your friends when someone says something bad about them. And also because I've never actually seen you yell at anyone ~~\--~~ "

"I yell at Tao all the time."

"Tao doesn't count." 

**INSPIRING**

"You inspire me to become a better and stronger person more and more each day that I spend with you." Baekhyun's actually starting to get choked up by this and he doesn't quite know what to do with himself at the moment. He only feels himself become even more emotional when Chanyeol sticks the blue sticky note onto his left cheek. "You inspire your other roommates as well. I hear Kyungsoo praising you quite often about how kind you are to others and how responsible you are."

"Kyungsoo? Since when."

"Since always. He's always complimenting you when you aren't around. Ask Jongin for proof." 

**DRIVEN**

"You are always motivated to complete and finish tasks and goals, no matter how busy or overwhelmed you are when you start them. It's honestly very admirable, you know." Baekhyun's never been given so many compliments at once before and he can feel his eyes welling up with tears all over again, however this time it's for a much nicer reason.

"Don't cry! You're going to ruin the sticky notes." Chanyeol deadpans as he sticks the yellow one on the side of his head. "All my hard work..." He laughs loudly when Baekhyun swats at his arm. 

**BRAVE**

"Brave? How am I brave?" Baekhyun asks with a raised eyebrow. "I don't remember doing anything like that."

"You kill all the spiders and roaches. Also you punched that one guy that one time in that one Halloween store." Chanyeol simply offers in response as he sticks the note in the middle of his chest. Baekhyun shrugs in response. Good enough for him. 

~~**HILAREOUS** ~~ **~~HILAEROUS~~  FUNNY**

Baekhyun's dying on the floor with laughter before Chanyeol can even properly explain himself. "Why are you laughing?" He asks with wide eyes. "I had some trouble spelling the word! That's not funny!" He whines loudly and stomps his foot pitifully in response. "It's a hard word!" He huffs when Baekhyun makes no effort to calm himself down. "I don't see you trying to spell that." After Baekhyun (eventually) pulls himself together, he pulls himself back into the chair and attempts to take the pouting man-child seriously. 

"Jongdae didn't know how to spell it either and Junmyeon was in the bathroom so I couldn't ask him!" He grumbles with his bottom lip sticking out. "Regardless," he narrows his eyes playfully at the other before jabbing the sticky note onto his shoulder, "you're very funny and always cheer me up with jokes when I'm feeling upset. Or scared. Or just bored."

"It's not hard to make you laugh though, Chanyeol." He states softly.

"You make Kris laugh. _Kris._ Let that sink in." He says with wide eyes. "That man never laughs unless it's at the expense of Tao." 

"Valid point. I'll take it." Chanyeol smiles proudly at this.

**TALENTED IN THE ARTS**

"What does this even mean?" He asks as he stares at the green note that Chanyeol just stuck on the side of his neck.

"You're great at dancing, drawing, painting, writing, and singing!" Was it a law to think that everything your owner does is perfect? Because Baekhyun was starting to think that was the case. "No," Chanyeol says before Baekhyun can even open his mouth, "it's not a law, but I'm telling the truth! You have such a wonderful voice. You should sing for me more, Baekhyunnie. Oh! Can you sing me to sleep tonight?" His tail's starting to wag just at the thought and he can feel thousands of butterflies swarming in his stomach. He'd never have any nightmares if Baekhyun always sang him to sleep. 

"I'll sing you to sleep tonight, fine." He was pretty sure it was the least he could do since Chanyeol was literally covering him in compliments. Plus it gave him an excuse to sing. 

**PERFECTLY IMPERFECT**

"This doesn't even make any sense, Yeol." He deadpans as he stares down at the blue sticky note. Is he perfect or not?

"Yes it does!" He defends himself, hugging the sticky note to his chest before placing it on Baekhyun's chin. "No one can be perfect. It's impossible, Baekhyun." Baekhyun wasn't sure how this was supposed to make him feel better, but he'd give Chanyeol the benefit of the doubt and hear him out. "But I love everything about you. All your flaws and insecurities. Everything that you hate about yourself I love. That's what makes you perfectly imperfect to me." 

Baekhyun's cheeks are burning a dark red, that he's sure of. His heart's hammering against his chest as he shyly glances over at the other before quickly burying his face in his hands. "Chanyeol, why are you so good to me? I don't deserve any of this."

"Of course you do." He responds quickly, carefully wrapping his larger hands around Baekhyun's smaller wrists, gently pulling his hands from his face. "You deserve everything good in the world." Baekhyun can feel his heart swell as he gazes at the taller boy, a large smile forming on his lips.

"And last but not least," Chanyeol frantically searches around him until finding the last missing sticky note on the floor by his feet, "here!" He places the only pink note on his forehead, smiling proudly as he gazes at his owner. Baekhyun carefully pulls it off his forehead, turning it over so he could read what it says. 

**SMART**

"Oh, Chanyeollie." He whines loudly, tears trickling down his cheeks despite Chanyeol whining in the background about his hard work. He cups the hybrid's cheeks in his hands, his thumbs stroking the soft and smooth skin before pressing several brief and short kisses to his lips. "You're so good to me. What did I ever do to deserve an angel like you, huh?" 

"Just by exisiting." He admits shyly in the other's hold. Truth be told, Baekhyun didn't have to do anything in order for Chanyeol to love him; he just did. Chanyeol was certain that even if the other wasn't his owner, he would have still developed these immense feelings for him. Baekhyun beams at his answer, leaning forward and pressing another kiss to his lips. 

It's when Chanyeol kisses him back that Baekhyun knows he's completely and utterly in love with the other. 

_\---_

_A/N: this is a repost from my The Three Hybrids story. I thought it fit in better here with the one-shots. This was inspired by[@rinadraws](https://twitter.com/rinadraws), an artist on twitter. She makes extremely good chanbaek/baekyeol fan art. Please go follow her or give her a look. :) she even drew this for me as well!_

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	4. international cat day? (jongdae x everyone)

_word count: 3,316_

The day started like any other day with Jongdae curled into Junmyeon's side as the hybrid slept soundly. His arms were wrapped around Junmyeon's torso tightly, a soft murmur coming from him as he only snuggled closer to the man. Junmyeon's eyes are heavy with sleep as he glances over at his clock. It was only seven in the morning, though for whatever ungodly reason he could hear movement and shuffling around from the kitchen down the hall. 

"It's probably just Kyungsoo or Tao." Jongdae whispers when feeling him move around. "Now stop moving so we can sleep more. Just ignore it." He grumbles sleepily, forcing Junmyeon to stay still so he can rest his head on the man's chest. Junmyeon does as told, mostly because he doesn't feel like starting his day quite yet and allows his eyes to flutter shut, his breathing falling into the same rhythm as Jongdae's. It wasn't long before the two were sleeping once more.

 

 

 

"Why are we up so early?" An annoyed Kyungsoo asks as Baekhyun rummages through the kitchen cabinets with an overly excited Chanyeol and Yixing lingering behind him. Sehun was awake too, of course, just as tired and annoyed as Kyungsoo.

"It's International Cat Day." Baekhyun offers lamely, pulling out a cake pan from one of the cabinets. "And Kyungsoo, you're really the only one here that's qualified enough to cook." Kyungsoo's eyes narrow at this. "Don't start bitching about how this is unfair." He warns as he waves his finger in the shorter's face. "This is for Jongdae and it can help him feel more welcome. Junmyeon told me that he's been feeling left out because he feels like he hasn't made any friends here ~~\--~~ "

"But we're his friends." Chanyeol immediately whines. "And we'd never leave him out of anything." Baekhyun chuckles at the other's adorable antics and leans back to pinch his right cheek gently. 

"Of course, I know this, Chanyeollie." He leans up on his toes so he can rub the hybrid's ear with his thumb and index finger. "But sometimes people can't help but to feel left out. He probably saw how well you and Yixing were getting on with the others in this house and couldn't help but feel a little jealous." Chanyeol's eyebrows furrow at this. Jealous? Jongdae? But Jongdae was normally the one who caught the attention of everyone, why would it be any different now? 

"He's a black cat. Everyone likes cats and especially black cats. Everyone likes him." He huffs quietly, though he ends up smiling widely as he leans into the other's touch. "We have to make this a good day for Jongdae, Kyungsoo. I would bake the cake myself but I don't know how. Yixing doesn't know how to bake either and Jongdae would throw the cake in our faces if we told him Sehun made it." Sehun rolls his eyes at this though stays silent anyway. 

"He has a point." Kyungsoo mumbles as he taps his chin with his fingers. "I can already picture him shouting how we made him eat a cake baked by Mr. Beady Eyes." 

"Ah, don't say that." Yixing says gently when seeing a frown form on Sehun's lips. 

"Anyway, that's fine. I don't mind making a cake for him. Does he like strawberry or vanilla?" He asks before pausing slightly. "Do we even have any of the ingredients to bake a cake with?"

"I might have saved some money on the side with Kris and Junmyeon to buy some extra groceries last minute. We have," Baekhyun quickly whips out his phone and pulls up his notepad, "the boxed cake mix obviously, eggs, butter, and that's all we need. Wow, that's easy. Chanyeol and Yixing probably could have done this on their own." He says as Yixing heads over to their small pantry, pulling out the cake mix. 

"You'd really trust them unsupervised?" Kyungsoo asks with a raised eyebrow while watching Chanyeol grab the eggs from the fridge. "Maybe not." Baekhyun mumbles under his breath when seeing Chanyeol nearly drop the eggs, Sehun rushing over and grabbing them before the damage could really be done. "I mean, maybe Yixing could do this left alone?"

"Are you insane? Sehun is the one who taught him to cook. He'd burn the house down faster than Chanyeol." Kyungsoo snorts as he grabs measuring cups from the counter. "Chanyeol, do you want to help me mix?" Kyungsoo asks when seeing the other shyly standing in the middle of the room after he lost his egg holding privileges. "You can do that, can't you?" 

"Of course!" The boy is hovering over him within seconds, a chill breaking out over Kyungsoo as he tries to inch away. 

"Chanyeol, give the poor boy his space please." Baekhyun sighs from behind the pair. Kyungsoo would have to thank Baekhyun for that one later. He grabs the box of vanilla cake mix from the counter, opening it and carefully pouring it into the metal bowl as Chanyeol watches in fascination. 

"Alright, so now that the cake mix is in, all we need to do is crack three eggs into the bowl, add the stick of butter, and pour in a cup of water and then we can mix it until it's ready. Easy, right?" He explains while handing Chanyeol a cup. "Just fill it with water and I'll work on cracking the eggs into the bowl, alright?" He didn't really want Chanyeol in charge of cracking the eggs. Knowing their luck he'd end up getting all the shell bits into the mix. 

The shorter boy stares at the dog hybrid with round eyes as he carefully walks back over with the cup of water, trying his best not to spill any on to the tiled kitchen floor. "Great job." He says when he places the cup on the counter. "I can crack the eggs ~~\--~~ " Kyungsoo's already cracked the first egg on the side of the bowl, though Chanyeol is giving him the best puppy eyes he could muster as he stares at the other with a small pout. Is this what Baekhyun had to deal with? No wonder he was always caving into the other. "You can crack _one_ egg, Chanyeol. Just one. You need to do it like this though." He shows how to gently pull the cracked egg open just enough for the contents of the egg to fall out and into the bowl. "You don't need to crack it hard, you might splatter the egg everywhere if you do that. You also need to make sure you don't get any of the shell into the bowl."

He watches with an anxious expression as Chanyeol grabs one of the two eggs left on the counter, his long fingers wrapping around it tightly. Why must he hold it so tightly? He was definitely going to get it everywhere. "Ah, Chanyeol ~~\--~~ " he watches in shock as Chanyeol cracks it with ease, the egg falling into the bowl. There was only a little bit of broken shell in the bowl, but it was certainly a better outcome than Kyungsoo was expecting. "Oh, wow. Chanyeol, that was great!" He compliments as he fishes for the small bits of shell. Chanyeol smiles bashfully, his cheeks heating up in color as he glances over at Baekhyun who was flashing him a thumbs up. "Do you want to crack the other egg and then add the water and butter while I look for the mixer?" Chanyeol nods his head quickly at this, Kyungsoo fighting back the smile on his lips as he walks away to search for the mixer. "Yixing, can you pre-heat the oven to 176 C? That way we can just pop them in the oven once the batter is mixed." 

Baekhyun watches in amusement as he quietly sits at the counter, his hands cupping his cheeks as he watches Kyungsoo order Yixing and Chanyeol around every now and then. "I'm not really sure why we had to wake up." Sehun mumbles as he sits down next to Baekhyun. 

"You know Yixing and Chanyeol wouldn't have let us sleep anyway. Besides, it would be unfair to leave Kyungsoo to deal with all this by himself." He mumbles while playing with his phone. "And if Jongdae knows you were at least awake for this, maybe he'll like you more." Sehun scoffs in response. 

"I doubt this will make him like either of us anymore than he does now. He barely tolerates you and he flat out hates me." 

"He probably thinks we're stealing his two friends away." He flinches slightly when watching Chanyeol nearly dump the cup of water all over the counter when trying to pour it into the bowl. "Maybe he gave him too much trust for cracking two eggs well." 

"At least Kyungsoo will be in charge of the mixer." 

"But anyway, maybe if we show him that we like him around he won't feel as threatened or intimidated by us. He'll have to start warming up to us eventually and I think this is a great way to do it. I even bought frosting and sprinkles to add to the cake. Chanyeol told me that Jongdae loves gold and pink. I couldn't find any gold frosting or gold food dye, so I had to go with the pink frosting and gold sprinkles instead. I still think the cake would have looked cooler with gold frosting and pink sprinkles, don't you think?"

"It makes sense that gold is one of his favorite colors." He deadpans when remembering the fit Jongdae threw in the middle of the store when Junmyeon wouldn't buy him the gold collar. He ended up getting it anyway. "And I didn't expect him to like pink."

"I think pink is a color that all cats like. Or is that just an assumption I've had in my head?" He mumbles with furrowed eyebrows. "Whatever. He'll like it anyway." The two watch in silence as Kyungsoo mixes the batter together, Chanyeol begging for Kyungsoo to let him give it a try. "If he's smart he won't let him." Baekhyun snorts under his breath. 

"He'll get it all over the walls." 

"And counter."

"And floor."

"And Kyungsoo."

"And definitely himself." 

"Oh, most definitely ~~\--~~ "

"You know we can hear you, right?" Kyungsoo calls out as he throws the two an annoyed look. Baekhyun and Sehun shrug in innocence, only to giggle to one another once he turns back around. "Chanyeol, I can't let you mix it. It's something you need more practice with and we don't have more batter, so if this gets everywhere then we won't have enough for Jongdae's cake, alright?" He frowns slightly when he glances over and notes the frown on his lips. "Next time when we have more batter and there's no special occasion, I can help teach you how to mix batter." Chanyeol perks up at this and nods his head quickly. "Yixing, can you spray the pan on the counter with nonstick?"

"Do you think he'll like the cupcakes we bought him?" Baekhyun asks when glancing over at the fridge. 

"We bought chocolate, right?"

"No, Google says cats can't eat chocolate either. I know, I thought they could too." He mumbles as he drums his fingers along the surface of the counter. "So I just got him strawberry. I didn't find anything saying cats couldn't eat strawberries. Plus he's a hybrid so I mean, as far as I'm aware humans can eat strawberries."

"Unless they have a strawberry allergy." Sehun mumbles as he scrolls through Instagram. 

"Shit. I didn't think about that." He swears silently. He looks up in time to see Yixing stick the pan with the cake batter into the oven. 

"What do we do for the next forty-five minutes?" Chanyeol asks as he immediately sits on the empty stool next to Baekhyun. 

"We should grab the cupcakes and set them up on a plate or something, make them look nice, ya know?" Yixing says as he pulls the container of cupcakes out of the fridge. "If we make them look pretty on a plate he'll be more excited. We can make them form a circle or something. Or maybe if we have a cupcake tray. You know, the things that bakers stack their cupcakes on and it looks really nice."

"We're not rich, Yixing." Sehun chuckles as he puts his phone down. "We don't own a cupcake holder." 

"We could probably get creative though." Kyungsoo says while grabbing a large plastic plate. 

"We can make it look nice without a cupcake holder, Yixing. Don't worry." Sehun reassures the other when seeing him falter in his confidence. "Maybe we can get a cupcake holder for Kyungsoo's birthday or something." He says while Kyungsoo mumbles a, _"why can't you get me something else for my birthday?"_

"Can we make a cupcake holder?" Yixing asks as his tail sways behind him. 

"I don't...I don't really know how to do that." Kyungsoo mumbles as he purses his lips. "I'm not really the artist of the house. We would have to ask Kris or Jongin, but Kris doesn't take kindly to getting woken up this early in the morning."

"What about Jongin? You usually have him design the cakes or cupcakes you make for your classes." Sehun suggests as he leans forward on the counter. Kyungsoo smiles shyly at this. "That's true." He says softly. "I can go wake him up." Kyungsoo's down the hall within seconds, the sound of Jongin's door heard opening from a distance. It takes five minutes total before Jongin's sleepily dragged into the kitchen by Kyungsoo.

"Good morning, Jongin!" Chanyeol greets happily, the boy smiling back. Or at least what he could smile back given how tired he currently is. 

"You need help with cupcakes?" He asks as he walks into the kitchen, his feet dragging against the floor. 

"Yes, we want them to look pretty for Jongdae and Kyungsoo says you like to help him with decorating." Yixing pushes the plastic plate towards him and glances up at him shyly. "We don't have a cupcake holder and we wanted to arrange the cupcakes somehow while we wait for the cake to bake." 

"Can we add ice cream to the cake?" Chanyeol suddenly asks while looking over at Baekhyun who then turns to look at Sehun and Kyungsoo, the pair shrugging in response. 

"We can serve it with a scoop of ice cream for each slice. It'll melt if we do it earlier." Kyungsoo says while glancing over at Jongin. 

"I can work with this." He mumbles and looks over at Kyungsoo. "You still have your parchment paper?" The shorter male nods his head in response before hurrying off to fetch some once Jongin said any color would be fine. "What's Jongdae's favorite flower?" He asks Chanyeol and Yixing while opening the container of cupcakes. 

"Tulips." Yixing says at the same time Chanyeol says "daisies," the two looking at each other afterwards. 

"Tulips might be easier. I'm sure he'll like it either way. Can one of you wake up Tao? He's good with designing so I'll need his input."

 

 

 

Jongdae's eyes flutter open when hearing a loud commotion from the kitchen, raising his head slightly as his ear twitches. His eyebrows furrow together when realizing Junmyeon was no longer in bed with him and that he had been snuggling up to a pillow instead. He huffs quietly as he pushes himself to sit up, looking around the room with tuffs of hair sticking out in random places. Junmyeon usually woke him up when he got up, Jongdae was a light sleeper. It seemed odd that he'd make it out of the room without Jongdae knowing. 

"Junmyeon?" He calls out while rubbing his eyes lazily. His eyes narrow when he gets no response, huffing quietly as he slips out of bed. Junmyeon didn't have work or class today, so why was he gone and not answering his calls? Ignoring him this early in the morning? Oh, he'd get a piece of his mind. He grabs one of Junmyeon's shirts, tugging it on and slipping on a pair of his own sweatpants. "Junmyeon!" He shouts as he stomps into the hall, rounding the corner and finally ending up in the living room. His left ear twitches when hearing someone clear their throat beside him. He turns slightly, his eyebrows furrowed when seeing everyone hanging out in the kitchen. 

"What's everyone doing in the kitchen?" He wanted to come across more confident, but he couldn't help but feel his heart sink when realizing everyone was hanging out without him. The shakiness in his voice betrays him however, and Baekhyun has to keep a grip on Chanyeol's arm to prevent the other from jumping the poor hybrid as a result. His eyebrow raises when noticing them suspiciously standing in front of the counter, the hybrid leaning slightly to his right in order to try and peer around. 

"Happy International Cat Day!" He startles when everyone suddenly shouts at him, eyes widening before narrowing in confusion as everyone moves away from the counter to reveal a pink cake decorated with gold sprinkles that line the bottom of the cake as well as gold lines decorated across the cake to give it a unique and beautiful pattern. His eyes then drift over to a plate of cupcakes beside it, the cupcakes bright pink with a beige frosting on top with more gold sprinkles on it. The cupcakes were placed in a liner that was decorated to look like the petals of a tulip. 

"This is really pretty..." Jongdae says as he continues to gaze at everything. The colors in particular were calling out to him. "What is it for? Why did you guys make this?"

"Because it's the day of the cat!" Chanyeol shouts excitedly and in turn making Baekhyun's left ear ring. "Which means it's like the day of Jongdae!"

"The day of Jongdae?" 

"Jongdae, we baked you a cake and we bought you cupcakes." Yixing speaks up when noticing the boy still wasn't catching on. "We helped Kyungsoo bake the cake and Sehun and Baekhyun bought the cupcakes. Jongin decorated them with Tao." 

Jongdae bites down on his bottom lip as he inches closer to the kitchen counter, his tail swaying slowly behind him. "This is...this is for me?" His voice is so soft that it nearly goes unnoticed but they still manage to hear him. 

"Of course! Our Jongdae deserves only the best." Chanyeol's shouting again and he manages to slip himself out of Baekhyun's grip, successfully throwing himself on the other and bringing him to the floor. "You're so great that you get a whole day to you." He's nuzzling Jongdae's cheeks as he speaks and from the corner of his eye he can see Yixing shuffling towards them. He plops himself down onto the floor, clinging to both Jongdae and Chanyeol. 

"Is this...is this a group hug?" Tao asks as bounces in excitement. 

"Oh god." Kris groans from behind him. 

Tao's rushing over within seconds, promptly falling on to the trio afterwards before the rest of the men run over and join in as well. Jongdae's squealing loudly as he tries to squirm away from the ten people pile on top of him, though Chanyeol seems adamant on keeping him put. "This isn't what I meant when I said I was feeling left out, Junmyeon." He whines loudly though it doesn't take long before he's erupting with loud laughter. 

"This makes me _almost_ want to gag." Kris mumbles from his spot as he picks up a strawberry cupcake from the counter, peeling the paper off the side and taking a bite before promptly walking back down the hall and into his room. "You guys are annoying!" He calls out though he can't help but to smile at his roommates' antics. 

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_A/N: happy international cat day! give your kitties a hug!!  
_

_also, if anyone knows the artist for the picture at the top could you let me know so i can credit them? i couldn't find their info online orz_

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_I know it's a muffin, but the liner is cute, no? v fitting for jongdae imo. plus jongin having a secret talent with art has me shook. _

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_and wHAT A PRETTY CAKE _


End file.
